Stanford's New War on English: Words You Can't Say, like 'American'

 “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” Marcus Aurelius

Here are SOME of the words that Stanford University has decided are "bad" and should be replaced. They even provide those replacement words to "swap" for the offending ones.

Does anyone else remember what U.S.A. stands for? Think about that when you get to the BAD WORD, "American".

Some of the words considered ‘harmful’ from grandfather to brave 

Original: walk-in

Swap: drop-in, open office

Reason: 'Ableist language that trivializes the experiences of people living with disabilities' 

Original: grandfather

Swap: legacy

Reason: 'This term has its roots in the "grandfather clause" adopted by Southern states to deny voting rights to Blacks'

Original: guru

Swap: expert, subject matter expert (SME), primary, leader, teacher, guide

Reason: 'In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, the word is a sign of respect. Using it casually negates its original value' 

Original: brave

Swap: none/do not use

Reason: 'This term perpetuates the stereotype of the "noble courageous savage," equating the Indigenous male as being less than a man' 

Original: man hours

Swap: person hours, effort hours, labor time

Reason: 'This term reinforces male-dominated language' 

Original: American

Swap: US Citizen

Reason: 'This term often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas (which is actually made up of 42 countries)' 

Original: whitespace

Swap: empty space

Reason: 'Assigns value connotations based on color (white = good), an act which is subconsciously racialized' 

Original: prostitute

Swap: person who engages in sex work

Reason: 'Using person-first language helps to not define people by just one of their characteristics'

Original: kill(ing) two birds with one stone

Swap: accomplish(ing) two things at once

Reason: 'This expression normalizes violence against animals'

Original: trigger warning 

Swap: content note

Reason: 'The phrase can cause stress about what's to follow. Additionally, one can never know what may or may not trigger a particular person'    

This is NOT an all inclusive list which can be seen in the attached file.

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“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” Marcus Aurelius